Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Position in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in shares of Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 11.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 469,059 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 63,034 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.33% of Murphy Oil worth $13,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,807,277 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $84,948,000 after buying an additional 114,656 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,234,585 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $67,619,000 after buying an additional 107,871 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 61.9% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,147,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $64,986,000 after buying an additional 821,427 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,857,702 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $56,214,000 after buying an additional 13,263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Murphy Oil by 20.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,674,590 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $50,673,000 after buying an additional 283,695 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Murphy Oil Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MUR opened at $24.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a PE ratio of 9.56 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $22.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.88. Murphy Oil Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $43.02.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 6.81% and a net margin of 13.47%. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.325 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.23%. Murphy Oil's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MUR. UBS Group reduced their target price on Murphy Oil from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. KeyCorp reiterated a "sector weight" rating on shares of Murphy Oil in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 23rd. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Murphy Oil has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $29.23.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.

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